Trick or Treats

Sharks, many a Cinderella, and even a Captain Hook emerging from a crocodile’s mouth!

What an absolute delight to see so many young children filled with anticipation and delight in their eyes.It was the annual Memphis Botanical Garden’s early evening Halloween event known as “Flicks or Treats” with a movie included. Many community organizations including the Cooper-Young Garden Club participated in providing and passing out candy to the young pre-school and elementary adventurers.

On a recent late Sunday afternoon, Cooper-Young Garden Club had a table just inside the ‘Special Events” parking lot gate to the Gardens. As such, it was the first of many tables the families and their young children approached running, skipping or even bashfully for some. Their individual personalities often showed..

Each child had a container offered up for his/her first piece of candy. Containers included plastic pumpkins, dragon heads, even ones wrapped in ghost paraphilia. Many children timidly volunteered the classic “Trick or Treats” and occasionally some had parental coaching to say “Thank you”, once the threat for the morsel had been responded to on demand. Added to the entertainment was a strolling minstrel, strumming his guitar and singing familiar tones like “Oh Susannah” and “Camp Town Races.”Many parents and MBG’s staff were also in costume adding to the festivity of the afternoon.

The event was sold out with over a thousand tickets. As for the Cooper-Young Garden Club, it provided both broader community visibility and, more importantly, an opportunity to put an attractive miniaturized replica of the CYGC Spring (2019) Garden Walk poster into the hands of many adults who accompanied their children to the event.It also provided the CYGC volunteers an opportunity to replenish their faith in the upcoming generation (!).May each reader have an opportunity to enjoy the same experience themselves by volunteering at next year’s festivity.

(Thanks to Bob Morrison and Joe Roach, our newest garden club members, for representing Cooper Young Garden Club/Walk at this fun event).